


ruthless is the name

by orphan_account



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, F/F, Judith and Holofernes AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22579801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A head for a bride.
Relationships: Himemiya Anthy/Tenjou Utena
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	ruthless is the name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wildcard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildcard/gifts).



“He’s sleeping in his tent,” Anthy whispered to Utena under the cover of early evening. “The wine has made him tipsy, and not much will wake him.”

“As we planned?” 

“As we planned.”

The crest of Utena’s family hung low on Anthy’s chest but her shoulder was tattooed with the symbol belonging to the great general Aiko’s concubines. She had been a match-piece, first married to an elderly statesman and then reclaimed by her lord-brother-husband. But in this town there had been Utena, who gave Anthy her crest and asked her to join the Tenjou household, left barren since her parent’s death.

“I need someone by my side,” she’d said. “Tomorrow I am going to fight the great general, and I will put his head on a pike and carry it around town.”

“You’ll never defeat him.”

“Alone I won’t. But you’ll help me, won’t you?”

Her crest was a rose viewed from the side, so that one might see the thorns and the calyx. It was plainly carved into carnelian, which shone in the low firelight where they spoke. For three days Utena had pleaded her case to Anthy, and on the third day Anthy broke and agreed to the mission.

“I will join you and your crusade, but only if you promise me this: that when we get Aiko’s head that I might be the one to carry it on a pike.”

Utena had given her agreement, and then kissed Anthy’s hand like they were betrothed. It was a kind gesture.

Now under the cover of deep night they moved. Anthy, Aiko’s beloved, wasn’t given a second glance as she strode into camp with the haggard figure of an old woman clad in sackcloth. Women and their servants were of no consequence to the soldiers. None of them thought to look for a blade hidden under the burlap, or how Anthy’s palms were slick with fear-sweat.

Aiko’s neck was exposed from where his head was thrown back on his pillow, white hair billowing around him. Anthy dug her fingers into his scalp, pulled the skin taut for Utena to swing her sword sharp as a flake of ice and soak the bed and the ground beneath it in blood. 

“Hold him down!” she yelped as he moved to hit her. Anthy grabbed his wrist and pinned it to the cot, making sure the last thing he ever saw was her furious bloodied face. 

The next morning, when the sun shone bright overhead, Utena and Anthy carried Aiko’s head through the town, hands clasped on the pole. Around Anthy’s neck hung Utena’s crest and a promise-ring of betrothal, stolen from the treasury of great general Aiko. The people saw this, and they knew that Utena had chosen her beloved, and from then on Anthy was the bride of the Tenjous.


End file.
